


We'll Meet Again

by orphan_account



Series: Stray Kids One-Shots [1]
Category: GOT7, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Bambam appears only for a scene and that's it, Fate, Fluff, Gen, Han Jisung | Han-centric, I'm new to this so I don't know how to tag, Inaccuracies?, Light Angst, M/M, badly made-up lyrics because they're written by me lol, everyone still ends up as idols, hints of Cat!Minho and Cat!Felix, i'm a mess, more tags may be added, mostly platonic but has a little bit of Minsung, one nervous breakdown but that's it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25215457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A few years after a performance fiasco, Han Jisung was living quietly, alone in his apartment. He was rarely around people, only meeting with two friends to compose music for fun. Sweet fate led him to find not one cat, but two. It was as if fate was telling him that he would meet again with his dreams, with those two cats to lead him along.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han & Lee Felix, Han Jisung | Han & Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Series: Stray Kids One-Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826812
Kudos: 5





	We'll Meet Again

**Author's Note:**

> (I'm basically repeating my tags here, lol.) 
> 
> This is a Jisung-centric fic. There's not really any ships in this, ig. Mostly platonic, I think. (Well, maybe a TEENY bit of Minsung, but ye.) And all the members are like a few years older than they should be, but oh well. xd Oh, and the lyrics that appear in this story are completely made up on the spot, so they aren't that great, lololol.
> 
> Also, there shouldn't be anything much. Just fluff, I think. (No angst, lol... Okay, maybe just a TINY bit of angst.)
> 
> Again, there are inaccuracies and exaggerations, like (obviously—you'll see what I mean) Hyunjin's cat allergy. I exaggerated it a lot. xd And idk how you relieve pet allergies because idk anyone allergic to pets. ...I think. Just know that I'm making stuff up. D:
> 
> Disclaimer: I, of course, don't own Stray Kids. I only own whatever is made up by me (like this story)!

" _. . . running, running, day or night, we'll never stop . . ._ "

The performance was going so well. His rap was going awesome, and it was so clear that they were going to win the high school performance competition. But the next moment was fatal; everything destroyed due to a simple mistake on part of whom others would say was the backstage crew. A single but thick wire lay stranded on the center of the stage. Jisung didn't notice as he vigorously danced over it during his rap, and he stepped on it, tripping. As he fell, he sprained his ankle and almost face-planted, his hand barely saving his face. Simultaneously, his microphone flew out of his hand, flying into one of the other performers, a young vocalist named Kim Seungmin, knocking him down. A terrifying crack was heard, and Seungmin's piercing yelp followed right after. The other performer, Hwang Hyunjin, stopped dancing immediately, running towards the poor vocalist.

As the music stopped, Jisung felt as if the stage itself was crashing down on him. He couldn't tell what was happening; all he could think was that he messed up, messed up so very badly, and he was horrified because of it. He was being pulled to his feet, but his eyes were concentrated on Seungmin, who was on the floor, crying and clutching his scraped and bleeding elbow. Beside him, Hyunjin was sobbing too, as if he was just as hurt as Seungmin was. Just like the performance, Jisung felt his ambition, his motivation, and his dream being annihilated right then and there.

Because it's all my fault.

Once he found out Seungmin's dream of becoming a professional baseball player was ruined because of the elbow injury, Jisung's belief that he didn't deserve to follow his own dream was reinforced. Since then, he never went on stage again. . . .

* * *

Jisung was having a stroll that snowy day. It was, of course, freezing, but he didn't mind it because of the beauty of the park. The landscape was so pure and white, reminiscent of the white bubbles of a bubble bath. As parents stood and watched, young children were giggling serenely, making large snowmen across the park. Couples sat in benches of dark brown akin to spruce trees, holding each other's cold hands as they smiled gently at each other, savoring an innocent moment of love. Although Jisung was alone, he himself was enjoying the little white snowflakes that fell slowly from the gentle grey clouds in the sky.

In the midst of the pure white snow, there was a large black spot, contrasting the rest of the landscape. Out of curiosity, Jisung leisurely strode over to the black spot to find that it was a skinny cat, unconscious. Surprised, he swiftly took off his mittens to check if the black cat was still alive and breathing. He could feel quick and small trembling as he touched the velvet, cold, and black fur. To his judgment, it was an adult cat, or at least a cat in its juvenile stage, though it was scrawny, as if it was a balloon that had lost its helium. On its skinny neck was a collar of a minty hue, and on the little charm in the shape of a circle was Min. Being the benevolent human being he was, Jisung did not hesitate to pick the black cat up and take it home. He would go to the police station later to ask for its owner, but the first thing to do was to warm the little cat up.

Just as Jisung got home to his messy but quiet apartment and closed the door, the cat—he assumed that the feline's name was Min—awakened in his arms. Alert, Min jumped out of Jisung's arms, only to fall over as he landed. He (seemingly male based off of his name) hissed softly, forcing himself to stand up and move. Frowning slightly in worry, Jisung bent down to pick him up again, but Min jumped back, nearly falling once again. He managed to keep himself on his feet, and he puffed up his tail, hissing this time at Jisung. His eyes were of burning hatred, as if Jisung was to blame for everything that happened to the poor cat. Standing up, Jisung scratched his head, confused and worried on how to take care of a cat, especially one that didn't want any contact with him. He decided that he would do this: go to the police station, then (if no one wanted him back) go buy cat food, and then ask a friend for help.

Jisung looked down at Min once more to find the cat to be staring back at him, with eyes slightly less threatening than they had been a few moments before. He bent down again towards Min, making no move to touch him this time. Min seemed to notice this and did not make any move to run. His thin and long tail was less bushy, going into a more graceful curve. Relieved, Jisung smiled gently, but brightly. "I'm going out for a bit, okay? I need to see if your owner is finding you. If not, I'll get you food. Stay here, little Min."

The cat stared at Jisung for a moment, seemingly scanning him. Silently and slowly, he left Jisung, going into another room that just happened to be the bedroom. Jisung made no movement to follow; clearly, Min wanted isolation. Jisung smiled at the bedroom door, where the feline had been seconds ago. With that, he quietly opened his front door, leaving Min alone in the hushed apartment. 

  
  


Jisung stood at the doorstep to a livelier apartment, one that was blasting a song that was a combination of hip hop and R&B. Knowing that the inhabitant would not hear the doorbell, Jisung took out his phone and gave him a call. The blasting song was then turned off, and silence filled up the apartment building. Moments later, the inhabitant open the door, revealing himself to be a boy slightly older than Jisung with curly, blond hair. His eyes were dark, heavily bagged under them, and he was wearing all black from head to toe. However, his smile was bright the moment he saw Jisung, juxtaposing his dark appearance. As he scratched his head, he greeted Jisung with a happy voice.

"Jisung, what's up?"

"Chan- _hyung_ , you haven't slept, have you?"

Bang Chan laughed, gesturing for Jisung to go into the apartment. He spoke as Jisung followed him in. "That's not important. What are you doing here?"

Knowing that Chan wouldn't listen to anyone about sleep, Jisung sighed and moved onto the real reason he was there. "So, I found a stray cat, and I don't know how to take care of it." He and Chan went into Chan's bedroom, and both sat on the black blanket of the small bed.

"Doesn't have an owner?"

"I already checked with the police, but no one had been asking for a cat named Min." Jisung smiled, though it was sad and sympathetic. "Poor thing was out in the cold, and it looks like he hasn't eaten for days."

Chan stared at him, deep in thought. "I'm surprised that he didn't completely maul your face off as you brought him into your apartment."

"Now that you mention it . . ."

"Well, that's expected from our stupidly bright Jisung, sending peace signals to any being."

"I don't know if that's supposed to be a compliment or not."

Chan laughed once more. "I'll call Bambam to go on over to your apartment for you. He has like four cats, so he'll probably be helpful for once."

"Thanks, _hyung_." Jisung stood up from the bed, getting ready to leave.

"Leaving so soon?"

"I need to buy cat food. Min clearly needs it. And you, _hyung_ , need to sleep. And don't make the excuse that it's one in the afternoon because you didn't even sleep during the normal hours to sleep."

"Yes, yes," replied Chan, obviously not taking Jisung seriously. "I'll just finish this song up, and then go to sleep."

Jisung sighed. "Alrighty, hyung. Thanks again." He began to walk towards the front door. "I'll see you later, _hyung_!"

"See you, Sungie!"

" _Hyung_ , I don't think—"

"Shush, Jisung, I know what I'm doing. Let the master handle this."

Jisung watched as Bambam fiddle around through a bunch of cat toys. They were shopping for items that Min might need at home, except Bambam seemed a little . . . enthusiastic about buying things. They had filled two shopping carts full of cat toys, food, and other necessities (were they necessary?), and Jisung was really worried about the cost. He lived alone and worked alone; he had only enough money for himself and few other luxuries like earbuds. He had some money that month, but the amount of items Bambam picked up probably costed about five times as much money as he had on him.

Bambam picked up a large scratching post, placing it into the already filled cart. Jisung gave an overly dramatic sigh to show his exasperation, only for it to be ignored because of Bambam's excitement. Jisung turned to the two carts to scan over what he could remove from them without Bambam caring too much and decided that the pack of chew toys (were they even for cats?) at the bottom of the cart was completely unnecessary. He slipped his hand between the metal bars of the cart and pushed up against the chew toy pack, maneuvering it through other boxes. When it finally passed the scratch post Bambam had placed into the cart moments before, Jisung took the pack out and put it back onto some random shelf for dog food. Satisfied, Jisung turned around to tell Bambam.

" _Hyung_ —"

Bambam was nowhere in sight, baffling Jisung. Taking advantage of this, however, Jisung began removing even more items from the two carts. As he removed many useless toys (they were honestly for dogs; Jisung questioned what kind of cats Bambam owned), he organized the actual necessities like food, placing them all into a singular cart and emptying out the other. This took, fortunately, about only five minutes, and Jisung moved on his merry way to find his dumb hyung so that they could finally go home.

However, as much as Jisung wanted to leave as soon as possible, Bambam didn't allow that. Jisung couldn't find him at all. There were too many shelves, suddenly making the store seem like a maze with too many ways out. Fallen toys and dropped food littered the floors, forcing Jisung to either take detours or waste even more time cleaning. Wasting about half an hour, Jisung finally decided to ditch Bambam, only to hear him screech his name across the store, "Jisung- _ah_!"

Bewildered once again, Jisung turned towards Bambam's voice. He raised his hand, putting it by his mouth, shouting, " _Hyung_!"

"Where did all the stuff go?"

Jisung sighed, dismissing the question. He made his way to where he heard Bambam (which was where they were before he disappeared) to find him with two leashes and a pile of cat clothes in his arms.

"Jisung, did you put everything back?"

" _Hyung_ , I'm not rich."

Bambam blinked. "Oh." With his free hand, he scratched his neck in embarrassment. "Sorry, I completely got carried away, since I own so many pets myself."

"It's okay, _hyung_ ," Jisung said with a reassuring smile. "I still got a lot of useful things for Min. Let's get going."

Bambam nodded. Then his eyes widened slightly, and he held up the leashes and the cat clothes. "Do you still want these?"

Jisung stared blankly. "I don't think that would be necessary."

Getting Min to warm up to Jisung was difficult, almost strenuous. Within the first two weeks, Min had avoided him at all costs, never seen until the feline needed food. He didn't eat that much either, putting on barely any weight. He didn't look much better compared to when Jisung first found him, though his movements had more energy and grace. (Jisung was glad that the cat had improved a little.) Every time Jisung attempted to urge him to eat, Min would just hiss, leaving the rest of the bowl. (It was always about three-quarters full that was left in the bowl. Once in a while, though, he found some treats to have disappeared, so he hoped that it was Min that ate them.) The few toys that Jisung brought for Min weren't used either; even catnip meant nothing to him. Because he seldom appeared, it was almost like Min never existed.

Jisung would have thought this large distance would continue to exist until he saw Min (he was pretty sure it was him when he saw the flash of mint on top of the black fur) dashing outside in pelting rain as he was on his way with another friend (a shorter but older boy named Seo Changbin) to Chan's apartment to record a song. Forgetting that Changbin was with him, Jisung left their umbrella and ran across the street to follow Min. Once he arrived on the other sidewalk, he found two large bulldogs of white and brown chasing after the poor cat. Jisung did not hesitate to chase after them, even as Changbin was calling his name from behind. A few minutes later, the dogs made a sudden turn, and Jisung nearly slipped trying to follow. Into a desolate alleyway full of garbage they went, and Jisung found Min to be cornered to a dead end. Behind the already thin cat was a little kitten of a gentle and striped orange, trembling in terror at the large beasts in front of them. (Jisung noticed that his missing treats was behind them too. He concluded that Min must have been taking treats to feed the stray kitten.) Too quick, the brown dog pounced, digging its teeth into Min's side. Jisung almost pounced in the same way as he felt the sudden urge to protect at all costs. He kicked the brown one to the side, picking up both Min (unconscious now) and the kitten. The white one bit his right ankle, impeding Jisung's movement. The brown one took that chance to bite his left calf, and Jisung almost yelped in pain. He could feel Min's warm blood in his arms and his own at his ankles as his legs became number with each second.

"Jisung!"

As soon as he heard Changbin, Jisung's face lit up with relief. Changbin, with the now closed umbrella, smacked the dogs off of Jisung's ankles. Swiftly, the older boy took the orange kitten from Jisung's right arm and pulled that same arm over his shoulder. With great strength (Jisung mentally applauded Changbin's strength despite being shorter), Changbin helped Jisung walk under the pelting rain as they made their way to Chan's.

Although the two weren't that close, Jisung was grateful that Changbin existed. 

"So," started Changbin, as he, Jisung, and Chan sat around in Chan's room to treat the injured, "since when did you own cats?"

"A few weeks ago?" Jisung replied, watching Min and the orange kitten (apparently named Yong, as shown by charm on his—yes, it was a he—black collar) sleep on Chan's bed. Min was bandaged all around his torso due to the bite from one of the bulldogs (good thing it wasn't fatal), while Yong was unharmed. "While you were busy with your audition, hyung, I was just chilling at a park, and I found Min, the black one, in the snow unconscious. The orange one just happened to be there today."

"Kind sunshine as always," Chan remarked, disinfecting Jisung's left ankle as the younger one hissed in pain. "I'm so proud of you, our _maknae_."

Jisung scrunched up his nose. "Thanks, I guess."

"Would it be 5RACHA now that you have two cats?" Changbin jokingly asked as he began setting up music files.

Jisung smacked the elder on the shoulder. "First of all, I have to check if he has an owner. Second, that sounds weird. Let's just stick with 3RACHA."

"Oh, by the way," Chan said, "Changbinnie got in."

Jisung gasped. "Really? That's awesome—"

" _And_ ," Chan cut in, "that means you need to audition too."

Jisung shifted uncomfortably. "But . . . I'm not that great. I can't ever get into such a large company like JYP."

"Jisung."

" _Hyung_ , I don't think I'm up for it."

Looking up from the lyrics he was evaluating on his laptop, Changbin put a hand on Jisung's shoulder. "But you promised—"

"Even so, I—"

"Han Jisung." Jisung flinched at Chan's use of his full name. "You can't keep running away forever, especially not your dreams. You may have failed horribly once, but that doesn't mean you fail forever. Look, you're still pursuing it with us right now. If you weren't, are we really 3RACHA?"

" _Hyung_ . . ."

Chan finished bandaging the last of Jisung's injuries, putting away the supplies into the first aid kit. "Think about it. Don't be afraid to talk to us either; I know you've always been distancing yourself from us."

Jisung didn't reply.

Certainly after that incident with the bulldogs, Min warmed up to Jisung. It may be because Jisung also took Yong in (Jisung found at the police station that no one was looking for the poor cat), and the kitten didn't avoid Jisung. Ultimately, he wasn't too sure if that was the reason, but he liked to think that him rescuing Min along with Yong facilitated the blooming of their relationship.

Instead of running away now, Min stayed, using his time to relax between the fluffy crimson pillows of Jisung's chocolate brown couch, and (like a mother hen) watching over Yong play with the cat toys Jisung had bought for Min a while before. (Jisung was relieved that they didn't go to waste.) Jisung had two bowls full of cat food in his hands, and he set them down on the ground with a soft clang. Both cats had heard it and came over to consume their meals. Jisung smiled as he watched them devour their food until the bowls were empty. Upon seeing Min's bowl becoming empty for the second time since the incident, Jisung smiled even wider. He kneeled down.

"Min, you're eating well now, huh?"

Min finished eating the last bits of his cat food and then looked up at Jisung. He stared into Jisung's eyes for a good minute, and Jisung couldn't help but hold the eye contact as well. Slowly after that minute, Min blinked at him and turned away to groom himself. Surprised, Jisung sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, feeling warmth come to his cheekbones. Nevertheless, he felt (he had no idea why) that he earned Min's trust, and his smile became wider and brighter if that was even possible. He held out his hand, putting it near Min's ear. Min turned once again and stared at Jisung's hand as if it was something foreign. Then he head-butted his hand softly. Taking that as a sign of approval, Jisung began to pet Min's head, scratching behind the cat's ear gently. Yong seemed to notice, and he rubbed his cheek on Jisung's other arm. Jisung laughed and began to pet Yong's head as well, rubbing a little at the kitten's left cheek. Both cats began to make a motor-like sound, and Jisung assumed that they were purring.

Jisung hadn't felt so happy since his fiasco with Seungmin and Hyunjin.

A knock came at the door to ruin the sweet moment, making Jisung sigh. He stood up to open the door, leaving Yong to whine for more pets. (Min just didn't care and returned back to his spot in the fluffy pillows of Jisung's couch.) Upon opening the door, he found a taller, older man with the strong and warm vibe of a bear. He looked surprised to find Jisung at the door, as if he was expecting to see someone else. (Jisung was just as surprised because he thought Changbin decided to come and visit.) The man scratched his cheek a little in embarrassment as he began to speak.

"Uh, this isn't Jeongin's apartment, is it?"

Jisung blinked. "Are you looking for Yang Jeongin?"

"Ah, yes, he's the one."

Jisung poked his head out his doorway and pointed to the right. "He's right next door."

"Ah, thank you." The man bowed in gratitude as he began to make his way to knock Jeongin's door. He paused, looking back at Jisung. "Ah, by the way, I'm Kim Woojin. You are?"

"Han Jisung."

Woojin perked up at his name, forgetting that he was there to meet the neighbor. "Oh, really? You're J.One?"

Jisung stepped back in surprise. "Y-you know me?"

He was, again, surprised as Woojin did a little odd happy dance. "Yeeeaaaaaah! I'm a fan of 3RACHA!"

Jisung blushed, feeling his cheeks become as hot as a chocolate cake baking in an oven. His face must had been as red as Rudolph's nose on Christmas. Before he could say a word of gratitude, his neighbor's apartment door opened, revealing a young and sleepy Jeongin, rubbing his right eye.

"Woojin- _hyung_ , you're so noisy. And you were supposed to come an hour ago."

"But, Jeongin, you were sleeping."

"I fell asleep because you took too long."

"Ah, sorry. . . ."

Jisung couldn't hold in his smile as he watched the two bicker.

Woojin held a finger up as he realized something. "One thing. How did you not tell me that J.One lives right next door to you?"

Jeongin awakened suddenly as he blinked in surprise. "J.One?"

"Han Jisung."

Jeongin glanced at Jisung, blinking furiously as he processed who Jisung was. He shrieked a dolphin scream and put his hands over his mouth as he finally realized. "I never realized— _Hyung_ , I—Oh my gosh."

Jisung laughed sheepishly, scratching his neck.

"Jeongin, how could you not have realized that _the_ J.One was your neighbor after you've lived here for who-knows-how-long now?"

"Okay, but I didn't think a fire-spitting rapper would look that soft and squishy."

"Hey—"

A soft but high-pitched meow from Jisung's right ankle interrupted Jisung, attracting everyone's attention. Looking down, Jisung saw little Yong rubbing his cheek against his shoe. Jeongin and Woojin both kneeled down simultaneously, cooing at the tiny kitten. Yong began to stroll around the two strangers, rubbing his cheek on their ankles too. It was as if Yong knew who they were for a long time already. Something furry grazed by Jisung's hand, and turning toward it, Jisung met eyes with Min once again. This time, Min's tail wrapped around Jisung's finger slightly, tugging at it. Jisung took that as a signal to kneel down, doing so. Then Min's tail wrapped around the wrist, leading Jisung's hand towards Jeongin.

"Oh?" Jisung whispered. "Min, you like Jeongin?"

Min stared at Jisung for a moment, and Jisung took that as a yes. Then Min led Jisung to Woojin, as if to tell him that he liked Woojin as well. Once Jisung understood, Min meowed and sat down, tail wrapping around himself. Smiling a little, Jisung looked over at Jeongin and Woojin, both of who were still playing with Yong as the kitten rolled around like a puppy.

"Hey," called Jisung, "we should hang out more often."

Jeongin looked over, eyes sparkling. " _Hyung_ , does that mean I get to play with your cats again?"

"I think Min and Yong would like that. Right?"

Both cats meowed in reply.

"And Woojin- _hyung_ , you get to meet the rest of 3RACHA if you want."

Woojin stood up and did his little happy dance again. "Yeeeeaaaaaaaaah! I get to meet SpearB and CB97!"

"Then . . ." Jisung paused, reluctant to reveal his thoughts. "Are we . . . ?"

Woojin held out a hand. "Let's start again. Hey, I'm Kim Woojin, 23-year-old singer-in-training."

Jeongin stood up, following suit as he put his hand on Woojin's. "Yang Jeongin, 19-year-old and also singer-in-training."

Jisung looked at their hands confused. The two vocalists glanced at each other, making eye contact, silently communicating. Then they both looked at Jisung, smiling brightly.

"Let's be friends!"

Jisung blinked, processing the last sentence they spoke to him. Then slowly, he put his hand on theirs, shaking their hands, tearing up slightly, speaking softly, "Han Jisung, 20-year-old rapper. Nice to meet you."

  
  


Never had Jisung's small and quiet apartment been so crowded and noisy. He half-thought that telling Chan and Changbin about Jeongin and Woojin and creating a group chat for them was a mistake, for they all decided (pretty much without Jisung's consent) to hang out at Jisung's almost immediately. It literally had only been two days since Jisung met Woojin. The other half of his mind didn't mind it too much, though. It was really nice to have company once in a while, especially since he seldom had visitors and since the cats seemed to enjoy the others' presence. (Jisung thought that cats would be more cautious around strangers, especially because Min and Yong seemed to have been abandoned, but apparently not for those two.)

Watching his friends, Jisung sat on the couch with Min beside him in the fluffy crimson pillows. Across him, Yong was with Jeongin and Changbin, playing and rolling around the floor. Changbin held a stick with a colorful rope attached, attracting Yong's attention as Jeongin made attempts to poke the kitty with some catnip. On the other couch, Woojin was singing for Chan, who became a fanboy almost immediately. The elder (Jisung learned Woojin was the older one of the two the day before) blushed as Chan gave him a flurry of compliments, including, "You should join 3RACHA as a vocalist!" (It was then Woojin's turn to fanboy, his "Yeeaaaaaaah!" causing the room to vibrate as if it got hit by a meteor. From the other side of the room, Changbin protested that it wouldn't be 3RACHA anymore with Jisung's giggly reply of "It's not like you said anything different a while ago!")

Certainly, Jisung had been (almost) fully enjoying the company of his friends until Chan decided to smack him in the face with a question that Jisung had dreaded for a while.

"Jisung, are you going to audition?"

Jisung stopped laughing immediately, sinking in the couch a little. Min, who was resting, opened his eyes to stare at Jisung, as if he was waiting for Jisung's reply. Yong settled down as well, making his way to Jisung to sit on his lap. Jisung was about to answer Chan, but he didn't get a chance to, for Woojin spoke. (And Jisung was quite relieved.)

"Audition for what?"

"JYP," Chan replied.

Woojin and Jeongin both gasped.

"Chan- _hyung_ and I are trainees," Changbin said proudly.

The two vocalists-in-training gasped for a second time.

"I'm planning to audition," Jeongin said. "Woojin- _hyung_ is planning to move to JYP from SM."

It was Chan and Changbin's turn to gasp.

"Hopefully we get to debut together if you both get into JYP," said Chan, grinning brightly. Jisung noticed that his eyes didn't match his smile, however. Chan glanced at Jisung, and the younger knew that he'd have to face the same question again. "Ah, Changbin, would you take Woojin and Jeongin into Jisung's room? Maybe you can show them what we composed recently."

Changbin nodded, leaving the living room. Woojin and Jeongin seemed to understand what Chan was doing as well, and (nonetheless, excitedly) followed Changbin. Jisung looked down at Yong, stroking the kitten's back and avoiding Chan's eyes. He could feel the elder staring at him intently, impatiently waiting for an answer. His stare felt like it was digging holes into Jisung's back, so Jisung finally looked up to meet Chan's eyes.

"Jisung."

"I . . . don't know."

Chan sighed. "I know, I'm rushing you, it's like I'm forcing you, but I really want the three of us to debut together. And I know you really want to debut too, whether or not you think so. What happened isn't your fault, never was. You didn't ruin teamwork, and you're really talented—rapping, dancing, singing, all of it."

Jisung bit his lip, words hitting him harder than he thought they would. He knew it was true; he did want to debut. But he was afraid, just so afraid of ruining a performance like that again, and he really couldn't risk ruining someone else's dream too.

"It's my dream to have 3RACHA together."

Jisung's eyes widened, realizing that he had spoken aloud. Something rough and wet grazed his hand, and he looked down to see Yong licking his hand. He smiled subtly, feeling slightly reassured. The small smile disappeared immediately as he looked up at Chan again.

" _Hyung_ , still—"

Min suddenly pounced, biting Jisung's arm. Jisung yelped, shocked that the feline had attacked him so suddenly. The cat let go, but Jisung found that the bite drew blood. Min didn't seem to care either, returning to his original position in the pillows. Yong jumped off of Jisung and into Chan's arms, meowing. Chan seemed extremely baffled; however, Jisung understood.

"I-I guess I'll give it a shot."

Chan smiled. "I'm—"

"But if I don't make it this time," interrupted Jisung, "I'm not going to try again."

Chan sighed. "Alright. Changbin and I will be waiting for you."

Jisung smiled, though sadly. "Thanks."

"Now"—Chan glanced at Min—"I need to clean that wound up."

Jisung laughed a little. "Okay."

Min flicked his tail in response.

Jisung stood outside the JYP building, shaking from obvious nervousness and subtle excitement. He might have disagreed to audition before, but in reality, he was looking forward to trying for himself (though he would admit to no one about it until he felt that he did enough for everyone). He wanted to thank Chan for forcing him to give himself a second chance; however, that had to come after he got into JYP, since he did promise that he'd go back into his black hole of an apartment and avoid putting himself and his own feelings out to the world again.

At his right foot, Yong gave a squeaky meow, as if to encourage Jisung to go into the building already. (The kitten had insisted that he wanted to go with Jisung; he screeched out from inside Jisung's apartment until Jisung relented, as he feared neighbors would call to evict him for the noise. Min, on the other hand, decided to sleep instead.) Jisung smiled down at him, nodding slightly. Yong meowed once again in reply, and he led the way into the building as Jisung opened the door. The little kitten tripped over the threshold, and Jisung accidentally giggled a little too loudly. The lady at the front desk looked up sternly at him, and immediately, Jisung silenced his laughter.

"What might you be here for?" she asked, her voice surprisingly not as harsh as Jisung thought it would be.

"I-I'm here to audition. Han Jisung." He shuffled his feet uncomfortably, looking down.

Looking through a list, she nodded. She opened a drawer, taking out a slip with a number on it. "Here's your call number. They'll either tell you directly if you passed or call you by phone."

Bowing down, Jisung thanked her.

"Oh, and your cat, please do keep it with you. We must not have it roaming around as this building is colossal in comparison to us and your cat. We normally wouldn't let pets in, but it looks to me that your cat is a stubborn little kitty."

Jisung laughed awkwardly, scratching his neck. "Haha, right. Thank you for making an exception for me."

The lady's stern look morphed into one of understanding as she smiled a small smile at him. "I own cats too, so I can kind of see how different cats act. However, if anyone asks who let you bring your cat in, I'm not taking responsibility."

"Yes, ma'am."

Jisung bowed respectfully to her, leaving to find the room to audition in. It wasn't too difficult, as the email he had received explained the directions in detail. He found a line already there when he arrived, and he waited patiently at the end of it. He bent down to pick up Yong, and as he lifted the kitten up in his arms, he heard a girl squeal a little. He turned to see the girl's eyes sparkling in glee as she stared at the kitty in his arms.

"Can I pet him?"

Jisung looked down at Yong, who was licking his arm gently. Yong then looked up at Jisung and looked at the girl. He then went back to licking Jisung's arm, and Jisung, nibbling at his lip a little due to Yong's licking, took it as consent. He nodded at the girl, and she happily began to stroke the top of Yong's head.

A few minutes later, the girl was called. Listening to her performance, Jisung would say that she had a sweet voice, soft, soothing, and high. She was clearly a soprano, a strong one too. The only thing that would dock her points was that her singing was slightly sharp, especially at the higher notes. Criticizing her made him lose sight of his anxiety, and when he was called, he was calm enough to actually think up a few verses.

Looking down at his feet, Jisung spat out a bunch of words, each line following the other at ease. It was a freestyle performance, but it was as if he had prepared his rap beforehand. Slowly but surely, his confidence grew, and as he got to where he considered was halfway through his rap, he was looking at the camera directly, unafraid of the criticism that might come after his performance.

" _. . . spitting fire, here's my burning passion._ "

Ending his rap, he panted loudly. The claps that came a second after were louder, making Jisung proud of himself. He smiled sheepishly at everyone in the room, bowing down and thanking each of them. Then he realized his hands felt empty, even with the microphone in his right hand. He glanced around, his eyes fluctuating left and right. With sudden realization, he left the room to find Yong, ignoring the calls of the one of the ladies analyzing his performance. He sprinted, turning and opening the doors to any rooms he saw, hoping to see Yong (and hoping that the kitty had not gone through an elevator). He caught glimpses of incredible idols, but his mind was too preoccupied with finding Yong to notice.

Jisung was amazingly lucky. Five minutes of running around led him to hear sneezing from afar. Turning to the right, Jisung found Yong at the feet of two boys, one who was sneezing and the other who was frantically grabbing tissues from his bag. Without looking up at the two boys’ faces, Jisung dashed over, crouching and picking Yong up.

"I'm sorry! You must be allergic to cats!"

Through his sneezing, one of the boys replied, "It's— _achoo!_ —fine— _achoo!_ —I like— _achoo!_ —cats— _achoo!_ —anyway— _achoo!_ "

"Your cat is cute, though," said the other boy. He paused as he began to pet Yong. "Jisung."

Jisung froze for a moment, surprised at the mention of his name. For the first time in that conversation, he looked up to find himself face-to-face with the boy, making eye contact with oh-so-familiar eyes.

"Seungmin," Jisung gasped. He glanced at the other boy. "H-Hyunjin."

With a gentle smile, Seungmin replied, "How've you been?"

"I—" Jisung failed to reply as flashes of Seungmin's pained face appeared from the depths of his memories. Seungmin's real voice was drowned out by his cries from the past. Slowly, Jisung began to hear Hyunjin's crying too, and suddenly, he no longer could see the real world. His knees buckled, and he fell, kneeling on the ground. As he heard his own cries, he held Yong closer to his chest, tightly hugging the kitten. His heart beat against his chest like the feet of a runner on the ground, and he felt like he was drowning in his own tears as the horrible memory of that incident crushed his lungs and pushed the oxygen out. As if a whirlpool pulled him into the deep sea, he sank into the abyss of his memories.

He did not know when he blacked out.

". . . sung . . . Jisung . . ."

Jisung opened his eyes, only to be blinded by white. A blur of black penetrated the brilliant white, and Jisung's mind led him to the memory of the day he found Min. Suddenly, something soft tickled his nose as some rough grazed his cheek. His vision finally cleared, revealing to him that he was in an infirmary. He forced himself to sit up as a throbbing headache fought against him. Jisung realized that the black blur was Min, and the cat was licking his face a moment ago.

"Oh, Min—"

Min cut him off by licking his lips once, and then jumping off the bed. As the cat settled on one of the chairs across the bed, Jisung blinked for a moment, making an attempt to process what the heck had touched his lips. He blushed, and then turned to the person who was standing by his bed, his arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"Chan- _hyung_."

"Jeez, Jisung, I knew you'd be a nervous wreck, but I didn't think you'd be so bad to the point you'd pass out."

Jisung gave an awkward laugh. "That's . . . not what happened."

Chan's frown morphed into a comforting smile. "I know that isn't. It was supposed to be a joke to lighten a mood, but I guess that came across incorrectly. Are you feeling okay now?"

Jisung nodded. "Just a headache, but it's better than before."

"Yong's outside, by the way, with your two old friends."

Listening out the door, Jisung could faintly hear sneezing outside. Subconsciously, he began to bite his lip, nibbling it anxiously.

"Jisung, you have to go talk to them. Face the fact that something did happen, but that it's not your fault."

"But . . ."

_They hate me._

"I know what you're thinking. They don't hate you, and you know it. If they did, they wouldn't be standing out that door right now."

"But _hyung_ —"

"Let's make a deal. I'll give you really good news if you talk to them."

"Define 'really good news.'"

"A light-up-your-day type of news."

Jisung paused for a moment, nibbling his lip as he thought out his choice. "Fine."

Chan smiled, going to the door and opening it.

"—jin, stop touching the cat already if it makes you sneeze so much!"

"I— _achoo!_ —can't— _achoo!_ —help— _achoo!_ —it!"

"You'll die at this rate just because you can't fricking breathe properly! You'll get really bad rashes later too, watch."

Yong slid from under Hyunjin's hand, dashing over to Jisung's bed and jumped on his lap. Hyunjin's sneezing slowly stopped as Seungmin was giving him medication and tissues. They all waited for Hyunjin's sneezing to calm down, and when it did, Seungmin and Hyunjin finally walked into the room as Yong and Min dashed out of the room. Chan followed the cats, closing the door behind him to give the three 20-year-olds privacy. Immediately, Jisung began nibbling his lip again, with the addition of his fidgeting.

"I didn't think it was that bad," said Seungmin. "That incident. I was wondering why you didn't talk to Hyunjin and me all of a sudden."

"Sorry," Jisung mumbled.

"Hyunjin missed you a lot, you know?"

Hyunjin gave Seungmin a nudge, and the younger rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I missed you a lot too. We both missed you. It really hurt when we realized you weren't going to talk to us anymore."

"I'm sorry."

"Hyunjin was crying a lot; you know how easily he cries—"

"Seungmin, that's enough about how much it hurt us," Hyunjin interrupted. He smiled gently at Jisung, putting his large and warm hand on the younger's shoulder. "Jisung, we don't blame you for what happened that performance. Not at all. All you did was trip. That was an accident, and it was the stage crew's fault for not being careful."

Jisung bit his lip with great intensity, and it turned visibly white. "I know, but Seungmin—"

"Baseball was only one of my many dreams," said Seungmin. "You saw me at the entertainment building. I'm working to become a singer now. You didn't ruin anything . . . except my elbow, but that's not as important."

Tears came up to Jisung's eyes, and Hyunjin seemed to notice. Hyunjin smacked Seungmin, scolding him, "That's not helping!"

Seungmin continued to speak nonetheless. "My elbow is mostly fine. It's not unusable; I just can't use it with full strength without hurting it."

"Even so," cried Jisung, "I still hurt you!"

"Han Jisung, we're willing to come back to you regardless," Seungmin argued. (At this point, Jisung's tears threatened to fall. He bit his lip until he tasted something metallic.) "I'm telling you that we're still willing to be your friends, no matter what happened. We don't hate you for it."

"But—"

"Sungie, we still love you," Hyunjin said, beaming.

"Rejecting us now will hurt this crybaby"—Seungmin pointed at Hyunjin as Hyunjin pouted—"even more. Let's be—ew—friends again."

As the tears slipped down, Jisung laughed at Seungmin's humorous "ew." Seungmin smiled as well, awkwardly giving Jisung a hug. Hyunjin pounced on them, joining the hug. Jisung was about to hug them back, his fingers grazing Hyunjin's back, but suddenly, Hyunjin jumped off. He began to sneeze violently, surprising Seungmin and Jisung.

"Cat fur— _achoo!_ —on your— _achoo!_ —shirt!"

By that moment, Jisung's tears stopped falling. It was replaced by the sound of his laughter as Seungmin and Hyunjin (between his sneezing) began to laugh as well. As Seungmin was taking out Hyunjin's medication from his bag, the door opened to reveal Changbin and a sleeping Chan on the ground across. Changbin's eyes widened, and he looked down, scratching his head.

"Did I . . . interrupt?"

"It's fine, _hyung_ ," replied Jisung.

"He's older than us?" Seungmin blurted as Hyunjin slowly calmed down. "He's so short."

Changbin flexed his biceps. "Just because I'm short doesn't mean I can't hurt you, kid."

"Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I can't hurt you either, shorty- _hyung_."

"Okay," Jisung interrupted, "Changbin- _hyung_ , I take it back. It's not fine that you're here. Please leave and take Chan- _hyung_ with you."

Changbin dramatically gasped. "How dare you, Han Jisung? To your _hyung_?"

"Everyone knows Channie- _hyung_ 's the better _hyung_ in 3RACHA."

Chan stirred, grunting once softly as if he had heard Jisung's comment. Changbin rolled his eyes as Jisung laughed.

"Hyung, you should take Chan- _hyung_ back home. Now, I would like to catch up with my . . . friends."

Jisung glanced at Hyunjin (still sneezing a little) and Seungmin as they smiled at him. Seeing them smile at him made him feel as if someone released him from the bars of a prison. He felt warm and relieved, as if a fire lit up inside him once again. He felt like he was home, sitting near a heater on a cold night as he would be working passionately and smoothly on another set of song lyrics. He couldn't help, but smile brightly back, his smile lighting up like the flames inside him. But once again, the moment was ruined with an interruption, and Jisung was slightly bitter. 

"Before I leave, by the way, where's Yong?" said Changbin. "Min's down there, but Yong's not around."

Jisung blinked. "What?"

Everyone glanced around the room, finding that no fluffball of orange was in sight. Then Jisung glanced behind Changbin, looking at the open door, and he sighed.

"He ran off again?"

(A few hours later, they—after waking up Chan—finally found Yong in a bush, playing with a balled-up music sheet. It was that moment that Chan fulfilled his part of the deal and revealed to Jisung that he passed the first round, along with Seungmin and Hyunjin.)

"This is the fourth time you ran off this week!"

Jisung held Yong up in the air, furrowing his eyebrows and pouting. Yong didn't seem to care either; he just meowed cheerily as if he thought Jisung was just playing with him. A couple of feet behind him, he heard Seungmin and Hyunjin giggling at his failure to scold the kitten. Jisung turned back, giving a glare that just made the other two laugh even more. He clicked his tongue in distaste as he put Yong back down on the floor of the apartment. Yong meowed cheerily once again, dashing off into (to Jisung's relief) the bedroom where all the cat toys were.

"He didn't run off like this until I took him with me when I auditioned," pouted Jisung.

Seungmin patted him on the shoulder. "Well, now you know he isn't afraid of the world."

"But still . . . Min doesn't do that."

"Yong's a kitten. He's a little more energetic."

"Hey," Hyunjin piped up, "what if I bring Kkami one day?"

Jisung blinked, making an attempt to remember who Kkami was. His mouth formed a little o when he remembered, and then frowned at the thought. "But they're cats?"

"Some cats can learn to tolerate dogs," said Seungmin. "Again, Yong's a kitten. He can learn to hang out with dogs."

The doorbell rang a moment later, interrupting their conversation on dogs and cats. Seungmin walked to the front door to open it as Jisung watched the bedroom door frame, waiting for Yong to suddenly decide to sneak out. The front door opened to reveal the older two members of 3RACHA, plus Woojin and Jeongin.

"So we finally get to meet!" Woojin said happily. "Couldn't wait any longer to see little Jisung's old friends! Especially the amazing baritone vocalist I've been told about."

Seungmin blushed as Jisung muttered under his breath, "You sound like a grandpa, _hyung_."

Before Jisung knew it, all of his friends clicked with each other like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. It was an amazing sight to see. Immediately, dancer Hyunjin began to learn (at lightning speed too) to rap under Changbin's instructions; Woojin, Seungmin, and Jeongin were singing random songs in perfect harmony as if they could already read each other's minds; and then there's Chan, smiling as brightly as ever to see his little two younger members of 3RACHA bond with more people. Jisung could imagine each piece connecting perfectly: Chan to Changbin, Changbin to Hyunjin, Hyunjin to Seungmin, Seungmin to Woojin, Woojin to Chan, and then he himself in the middle for connecting all of them. Yong meowed, and Jisung, sitting on the couch, laughed in response.

"You and Min are pieces of the puzzle, too."

Min slipped under Jisung's arm, purring. Jisung laughed once more and began to scratch gently under Min's chin. The cat purred softly, with the long whirring sound of a motor. Yong squeaked out a whine, clearly jealous that Min had all the attention. Beaming brightly, Jisung held up his other hand as the little kitten hopped onto his lap. He began to scratch behind Yong's ears, and the kitten began to purr, coalescing with Min's purring into an odd hum of a singular machine. With sudden grace, Min tilted his head to move away from Jisung's hand, and stood up. He jumped onto the windowsill above the couch with even more grace, movements smooth as ripples on a lake. Jisung turned his head, eyes following Min, only to find that Min was on the other side of his head. He turned his head in the other direction, his soft brown eyes meeting the glowing ones of the night-colored feline. As unpredictable as lightning, Jisung's lips were caressed by something rough and quick. Min flicked his tail as he jumped off the windowsill and onto the floor, leaving Jisung to blink in confusion. He only finally processed what had happened for a second time when Chan started to laugh and coo at him. In response, Jisung blushed and picked up one of his crimson pillows, chucking it into the elder's face.

"Shut up, _hyung_!"

Chan laughed as the pillow hit him square in the face. "It's not like I'm watching you kiss your date."

"E-even so!"

"Nothing to get worked up about."

By now, everyone's attention was on Jisung, stopping all of their musical activities. Jisung groaned, chucking the second crimson pillow of the couch at Chan's face.

"Pillow fight?" asked Jeongin, eyes sparkling.

Chan picked up one of the pillows that hit his face, hitting Changbin in the face. "Y'all are on."

With that, the rest of the boys picked up pillows from the couch, the bedroom, even Jisung's closet, smacking each other and screaming and laughing at the top of their lungs. Jisung sat with Yong in his arms, shielding himself and the kitten with a pillow the size of his face. He laughed as Hyunjin accidentally got too close, the dancer's face coming into contact with Yong's tail as he tripped over Woojin's foot. The apartment shook with the boys' laughter (and Hyunjin's sneezes) as they attack each other with pillows (and as Seungmin takes out Hyunjin's medication).

With his peripheral vision, Jisung took a glance of Min, who was retreating into the bedroom. Sudden chills were sent down Jisung's spine, and he, just as suddenly, felt incredibly lonely as if Min had left him behind forever.

Jisung suppressed those feelings, hiding behind his little pillow and petting Yong's back to comfort himself.

"I don't know if Min will like Kkami," said Jisung, frowning as he glanced at the sleeping black cat in his arms.

"Yong looks giddy, though," replied Seungmin.

Jisung nodded in reply as he glanced down at a jumping Yong beside his right foot. "By the way, do you two live together or something? I never see either of you without each other."

"A lot of things happened, and so we share an apartment," Hyunjin said, on the other side of Seungmin and away from the cats. "It's pretty nice, since the pay comes from both sides."

"That's cool. You work?"

"Seungminnie's a barista. I just work in a grocery store."

Jisung nibbled his lip. "I see, I see."

"How do you pay off your apartment?" asked Seungmin.

"I . . . My parents pay it. I've been just making music with Chan- _hyung_ and Changbin- _hyung_. Looking for a job didn't really work out for me. . . ."

"Aw, the shy Jisung is certainly still there," Seungmin laughed.

Jisung pouted. "Shut up. How do you know that's the reason?"

"By your facial expression, I know I'm right. At least you don't have to worry as much anymore."

Jisung smiled. "Yeah . . . I can't believe I actually got in after the second round. You guys too."

"I was just lucky," Hyunjin said, licking his seemingly chapped lips. "It's probably just based on looks."

Seungmin gave him a smack on the back of the head. "Hey, you're pretty good at rapping and dancing, stop that."

"But—"

"No buts. None."

At this point, Jisung finally got a good glance at how tall the other two were compared to him. They were relatively the same height when Jisung last spoke to them, but clearly, he was the only one that stayed that way. He pouted to himself, thinking about how only Changbin was the only one shorter than him in that small friend group. A smile returned to his face, replacing the pout as the three of them and the two cats arrived at Hyunjin and Seungmin's apartment, which was conveniently on the bottom floor. Hyunjin made an attempt to rummage his pockets for the key only for the attempt to be in vain as Seungmin quickly took his key out of his bag and opened the door. As Seungmin went inside, excited little barks were heard as a fluffy black and white pup dashed on over, jumping into Hyunjin's arms and licking his face. Yong looked at Kkami, meowing in excitement as he jumped into Hyunjin's arms as well. Hyunjin (and Jisung) gasped as he let go of the two pets, Kkami and Yong both landing on their feet onto the threshold. Surprisingly, neither Kkami or Yong attacked each other like cats and dogs would normally do, and they began to run into the apartment to the toys as Hyunjin began his series of sneezes again.

"Yong is totally a dog, not a cat," Jisung said, snorting.

Hyunjin giggled a little in the middle of his sneezing, which caused him to start coughing. Seungmin rushed out of the apartment with medication, and as he saw Hyunjin's struggle, he shook his head in disapproval.

"Hyunjin, didn't I tell you not to play with the cats?"

"I-it's— _achoo!_ —not even— _achoo!_ —my— _achoo!_ —fault!"

Jisung snorted, going into the apartment and leaving the other two to bicker about Hyunjin's allergy. Min had woken up, so he left Jisung's arms and dashed immediately to the couch, near an open window. Jisung glanced at the window for a moment, worried that Yong might jump out and escape. Then he glanced at the floor, where Kkami and Yong were playing with a squeaky red ball. He smiled, seeing that Yong was probably having the time of his life and would not wander out again. Footsteps at the front door caused Jisung to glance out. Hyunjin seemed to be calming down as Seungmin led him into the apartment.

Jisung scanned the apartment and saw that it was much, much neater than his own place. (He thought his apartment was clean—with only a few pillows, papers, and other miscellaneous items lying around in corners—for he was actually a really messy person who tried to make improvements in his character. However, seeing Seungmin and Hyunjin's apartment made him think otherwise.) The living room was spacious, with little of anything near the center of the room besides a fluffy white rug. The walls of a creamy hue had no stains of black anywhere, and the shelves and other furniture with a darker shade of the same color as the walls had minimal dust. White pillows were neatly organized on the beige couch, two on one end and two on the other. In a corner near the bedroom door was a little black bed and violet dog bowls, clearly for Kkami. Dog toys—besides the one red ball Kkami and Yong were playing with—were neatly packed in a black box, placed in another corner across the room.

Jisung decided to avoid looking at the kitchen, as he was starting to get hungry. He decided that he didn't want to force one of the other two to cook. Plus, he already ate more than enough the previous two days. So he said, "Hey, Hyunjin, I haven't seen you dance in a long while now that I think about it."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I'll go get a mini speaker from my room, and I'll dance a bit here for you."

"I'll start making lunch," said Seungmin. "Pretty sure you two are hungry."

As Hyunjin nodded and dashed into a small room, Jisung opened his mouth to protest, but Seungmin gave him a glare that said, Eat or I'll kill you myself. With that, Jisung sat down at the couch near Min, feeling defeated. Seungmin went to the kitchen, leaving Jisung and the animals in the living room.

Lifting up his hand, Jisung made an attempt to scratch Min's chin without looking. However, his hand met with something physically much larger, and when he looked, he found that he accidentally touched Min's stomach. Knowing that cats generally dislike untrustworthy people (he still doubted if Min trusted him fully yet) touching their stomachs, Jisung immediately pulled back his hand. Min reacted by standing up, turning his body so that his head could be near Jisung's. He head-butted Jisung softly and licked his owner's lips once again. Jisung giggled and scratched Min's chin, and the cat purred. Their eyes met, and something inside Jisung told him that Min was looking at him with a human emotion akin to sorrow yet reassurance.

Before Jisung could ponder on this thought, Hyunjin had returned with his mini speaker, ready to dance. He asked Jisung if the younger had anything he wanted to see him dance to, and Jisung replied with a simple "no." Hyunjin then pulled up a random play dance video on his phone, letting it play.

No matter what the song was, Jisung was amazed by how much Hyunjin had improved since he last saw the taller one a few years before. Hyunjin was good back then; now he was beyond outstanding, with much more flow and power mixed into his movements, creating his own beautiful style of dancing. The dances he danced to were obviously not his own choreography, but he made them feel like they were. Beside Jisung's ear, Min purred, as if he enjoyed watching Hyunjin dance like Jisung did. Jisung glanced at the cat, who was so intently staring at Hyunjin. Then, about ten different songs passed in the random play dance video until Yong interrupted by jumping onto Hyunjin as if he wanted to join in too. Jisung snorted as Hyunjin began his round of sneezes once again.

"Hyunjin, not again!" shouted Seungmin from the kitchen. "You touch the cats one more time, I'm letting you suffer!"

"It's— _achoo!_ —not— _achoo!_ —my— _achoo!_ —fault— _achoo!_ "

"Seungmin, keep cooking!" said Jisung. "I can grab the medication for you!"

"There's a container on the nightstand in the bedroom!"

"Jisung— _achoo!_ —I— _achoo!_ —can— _achoo!_ —get— _achoo!_ —it— _achoo!_ —myself— _achoo!_ "

Jisung ignored the dancer, leaving the living room to grab the medication. (Seungmin called it medication, but it was more like an allergy-relieving gel.) There was also a box of Q-tips conveniently placed beside the medication. Jisung took one and opened the container, swiping a bit of the gel. He left the bedroom, and when Hyunjin saw him between his sneezes, he pointed to his nose. Jisung applied the gel while making unsuccessful attempts to avoid Hyunjin's sneezes. When he thought he applied enough, he waited for Hyunjin to slowly calm down.

"Hey!" called Seungmin as Hyunjin finally stopped sneezing. "Lunch is ready!"

"Great!" said Hyunjin, dashing over to the kitchen.

Jisung went to his bag, which he had placed near the front door when he came in. He grabbed two cans of cat food, opening them to serve to Min and Yong. He placed them near Kkami's bowl, and he looked up to call the kitties over. Yong came over immediately, as if he waiting for the longest time ever. On the other hand, Min was nowhere to be seen.

"Min?"

Jisung glanced here and there, but it did not seem like Min was anywhere in the living room. He took a peek in the only room with an open door, which was the bedroom from before. There was no sign of the feline.

"Seungmin, Hyunjin," called Jisung as he returned to the living room. "Is Min over there with you?"

Seungmin came over, puzzled. "No? Why?"

"Oh, my—" Jisung then had a revelation and glanced at the open window above the couch. "No. No, no, no, Min—he hasn't—not since Yong was here—"

"Jisung?"

"Seungmin, I—"

"Jisung, I don't think he ran away. As stupid as you are, I don't think he would actually do that."

"Thanks for the concern."

Seungmin gave him a sheepish smile. "But really, I don't think he ran. I made sandwiches, so we can just grab some and go find him."

Jisung nodded, and Seungmin went over to close the window.

"Hwang Hyunjin, forgetting to close the window like I told him to," Seungmin sighed.

Jisung sat on his bed, sulking. He hadn't seen sunlight for three days now with all of his windows and doors closed, and he turned his phone off so he couldn't see the hundreds of messages from his friends. Although he did feed Yong, he himself hadn't eaten anything in those three days. Yong mewed sadly on his lap, as his owner continued to cry.

Min did not return ever since he disappeared five days before. There was no trace of the graceful black cat, and the two days that everyone spent looking for him was in vain. Although they had stopped physically looking for the cat, Chan had posted posters all over and reported Min missing to the police station in hopes that someone would return him.

There was no trace whatsoever.

"Yong," said Jisung softly, sniffling.

Yong meowed excitedly in reply, as he finally heard his owner's voice after three days.

"You . . . You won't leave me, right?"

Something in Jisung's heart told him that his hopes were going to be crushed. He was afraid to look at Yong directly, but he did so anyway. When they made eye contact, he saw what felt like sorrow and regret. Jisung bit his lip, as he held Yong closer to his chest, stroking the kitten. Yong squeaked out a high-pitched meow quietly, and Jisung felt his hand being licked.

"Yong, if you do have to leave . . ."

Jisung couldn't say more, as he began to cry once more. Loneliness crushed him like it never did before. The comfort he had in his life was leaving, and he knew it. Even Chan and Changbin couldn't feel the holes that Seungmin and Hyunjin had left the few years previously. And Jisung wasn't sure if they could fill it back up anymore as the past still haunted him a bit. If Yong left his life just like Min did, Jisung didn't know if he could have enough motivation to even try for his dreams again anymore.

But certainly, just as expected, the next day, Yong disappeared without a trace.

(It was mysterious; Jisung had no windows or doors open.)

It was a month since Yong disappeared, and Jisung was on his way home from the entertainment buildng. He had been planning to stay shut in his apartment for all of eternity, but Chan had finally snapped and barged into the apartment with a spare key that Jisung never knew he had.

("Was it that one day I forgot my key in your apartment?"

"Yeah. That's why you didn't have it for a day, haha."

"That's not nice, _hyung_.")

With great effort, Chan had dragged him out to take a walk around the park (which strongly reminded Jisung of Min). It was exhausting to be walking on a completely empty stomach, but somehow, the afternoon sun, the blue sky, and the opportunity to rant and cry his heart out to someone colored Jisung's world again, making him feel much, much lighter than he did when Min disappeared. In addition, Chan took him out to eat (Chan taking anyone out to eat was rare) at a sushi restaurant and then a bakery. (Jisung fully enjoyed his two slices of cheesecake and chocolate cake, something else that was rare.)

Jisung passed the alley where he first saw Yong with Min a long while before. He glanced over out of reminiscence, and what he saw was different from what he saw every day: two boys, one blond and one with dark brown hair, running at top speed. As the one with the dark brown hair ran past Jisung, the blond one crashed into Jisung, and they both fell onto the concrete. The blond boy immediately stood up, made a quick apology (with a surprisingly deep voice that contrasted his baby face), and dashed away behind other boy, leaving Jisung behind on the ground.

"Looks like they're in a rush," Jisung said to himself as he stood up, patting his knees.

As he continued strolling home, Jisung stopped by a bakery that recently had had a grand opening. He had passed it for a week already, but he didn't have the time to go check it out. The staff had, for some reason, decided to let all of the trainees off early that day. Grinning, Jisung happily skipped over to the door, opening it, and the bells above him jingled. The bakery was quite empty, with only two people sitting at two different tables with laptops. Even so, the young lady at the counter greeted him with a cheery "Welcome!" and asked him what he would like.

"Either a slice of cheesecake or chocolate cake!" replied Jisung, just as cheery as the lady was.

"Do you have space in your stomach for both?" She gave a joking wink.

Jisung pondered. "Depends on how much it costs."

"They're both 3000 won."

Jisung nibbled his lip. "I only have 5000."

The lady pouted a little. "Hmm . . . If you let me poke your cheek, I'll cut the price down for you."

Jisung blinked in confusion. Why would she want to poke his cheek? However, his strong desire for the cakes took him over. "Are you allowed to do that?"

The lady laughed. "I'm the daughter of the owner of this place, I can deal with it."

"Okay, then it's a deal!"

The lady's eyes lit up. "Yay!" Jisung bent over the counter a little, and the lady cheerily held out an index finger, poking his left cheek gently. She giggled, "You're so cute! Such squishy cheeks."

Jisung blushed. "Thanks."

"Are you a high schooler?"

Jisung gaped, taken aback. "I-I'm twenty."

"Oh, I thought you were a child! I'm still older, though, by a year."

"Oh, _noona_."

She laughed. "I'll go get your cakes. What's your name?"

"Han Jisung."

She gasped. " _The_ J.One?"

"You know me?"

"I'm a huge fan of 3RACHA! Didn't think you would be such a squishy child." She began tapping on the cashier. "Okay, so a slice of cheesecake and a slice of chocolate cake for 5000 won, Han Jisung."

"Yup." Jisung pulled out his 5000 won from his back pocket, sliding it across the counter.

"Do you want a receipt?"

"No, thank you."

"Alrighty." The lady went to the back, and moments later, she returned with two small boxes in a plastic bag. "Here are your cakes! Thank you for coming!"

"Thank you!" Jisung bowed, skipping out of the bakery happily.

"I hope to see you again, J.One!"

"You can count on it, _noona_!"

The door opened with a jingle as Jisung pushed it out. A gentle breeze blew past his bangs, caressing his forehead and his cheeks. He felt the urge to go to the park to enjoy the cooling air; being shut in at home was boring anyway. He took a detour, turning left towards the park instead of walking straight home. Quickly, he found a bench on the concrete path in the middle of the park, a few little birds eating crumbs of the ground. They flew away as Jisung sat down on the bench, brushing off the remaining crumbs. He took out his phone from his back pocket, plugging his earbuds and turning on 3RACHA's "Tik Tok" on repeat. He turned his attention to his cakes, removing the box of cheescake and a fork from the bag with a crumple. He opened the little cake box, slicing the bottom corner and slipping it between his lips.

"Mm! Now this is the life!"

Jisung continued to eat the cake, finishing it in ten minutes as he watched children play on the swings and the slide. There was one child with two cats, one white and one calico, yet Jisung was overwhelmed by nostalgia. As if on cue, as if he knew that Jisung needed someone to talk to, Chan called Jisung, the ringtone (Chan's rap from "ZONE") interrupting "Tik Tok." As Jisung finished his last bite of cheesecake, he accepted the call, greeting Chan cheerfully.

"Hey, Jisung," replied Chan. "Since we were released early, wanna come over and continue that one song? Binnie's coming over."

"Heck, yeah! It's been too long. I'll come over after I finish eating this chocolate cake."

Jisung heard a soft chuckle on the other side of the call. "You said you wanted to look less like a high schooler, and you're still adding onto your cheeks?"

"Shut up, _hyung_. Cheesecake and chocolate cake are holy food. Can't live without them."

"Alright, alright, don't complain to me later then."

Jisung laughed. "I'll see you later, _hyung_!"

As the call ended, Jisung finished up his chocolate cake and then made his way over to Chan's apartment.

"Jisung, stop running," Chan scolded, trying to jog up the stairs. "You're gonna crash into something."

Jisung ignored him, dashing up the stairs to his apartment, extremely happy that Chan had actually bought him a cake again regardless of the fact he had already eaten two that day. The bag of cake swayed against Jisung's grip, but Jisung didn't mind it. He got to the top and took a turn, crashing into something tall and warm. Jisung fell to the ground, his cake falling with him and getting crushed under his hand.

"M-my cake—"

"Oh, sorry."

Jisung, lips parting to a gape, looked up to find a familiar dark-haired man with beautiful, sparkly eyes (that vaguely reminded Jisung of Min). The man blinked a few times quickly, subconsciously batting his eyelashes. The man bent down, holding out a surprisingly small hand to Jisung. Stuttering out a thank-you combined with an apology, Jisung held the man's hand as the (seemingly) elder pulled himself up.

"Minho- _hyung_?" a deep (and also familiar) voice called out from the apartment that just happened to be right next to Jisung's. Jisung also noticed that the accent, especially the vowels, were a little off; they vaguely reminded Jisung of Chan for some reason. "What was that noise?"

"I bumped into one of the neighbors."

From behind the man named Minho, a door opened to reveal the blond boy Jisung had crashed into earlier today. Jisung gaped once again as he saw the familiar face. The blond boy mirrored Jisung's expression, and they both pointed, saying simultaneously, "It's you!"

"It's who?" asked Minho.

The blond scratched his head. "He was the guy I crashed into."

"You crashed into someone?" Chan asked, appearing from behind Jisung. "And then you crashed into another dude again?"

"Shut it, _hyung_ ," pouted Jisung.

Minho laughed, and Jisung was awed by how colorful it was. "I'll treat you later for that destroyed cake."

Jisung jumped happily. "Would you?"

"I should, since I destroyed J.One's cake."

Jisung gasped again. "You—"

Minho laughed again and turned to the blond boy. "Come, Yongbok, you said you were hungry."

"It's Felix," hissed the blond boy in English.

"You're Australian?" asked Chan, also in English. "Me too!"

"Whoa, you too?"

"Wow, can't relate," said Jisung. "Never met anyone from Malaysia."

"You're a foreigner too?" Minho asked.

"Nah, I was born in Incheon. I moved there and came back."

"I see. I'm just a normal ol' Korean. Yong—well, Felix is my cousin from Australia." Minho turned to Felix. "Hurry up, Lix, I'm done waiting."

"Alrighty, _hyung_!" Felix dashed forward. "Race you!"

"You immature little brat." Minho turned to Chan and Jisung, giving them a wink. "I'll see you around."

Minho and Felix dashed down the stairs, and Jisung could hear their footsteps on the steps. He didn't fail to notice that their backpacks had straps that looked oddly almost identical to the collars Min and Yong had. Minho had a mint-colored strap with "Min" on it; Felix had a black strap with "Yong." With a small smile, Jisung turned to Chan.

"Fate is really interesting, isn't it?"

Chan looked at him with puzzled eyes. He didn't press on it, though, facing Jisung's apartment door. "We should go in now. I'm getting hungry."

Jisung nodded, taking out his keys. He opened the door, leading Chan in. Before he took a step over the threshold, he gave a look at Minho and Felix's apartment.

"Thank you for everything. And thank you for meeting me again, even if it's in a different way."

Certainly, Jisung did see Minho and Felix around. Unexpectedly, he met them again in the JYP Entertainment building as they were having a dance lesson. A few weeks later, they became a group, along with Chan, Changbin, Woojin, Jeongin, Seungmin, and Hyunjin. One year later, after many trials, they debuted as nine. 

* * *

"Mm! I love this cake! Thank you so much, hyung!"

Minho sipped his milk tea as he watched Jisung devour his cheesecake like it was the last thing the younger would ever eat. "As long as you don't choke on it, no problem."

This was a month after Chan put them all together as one group of nine. JYP himself had decided that they needed a day of break, especially after seeing 3RACHA take multiple all-nighters to compose songs and write lyrics. So Minho decided to finally buy Jisung that cake he promised.

"Jisung, here's your thai tea," said the lady (Jisung found out her name was Jieun) as she set the glass in front of Jisung. "By the way, your boyfriend is very cute."

Jieun giggled as Jisung choked on his cheesecake. He quickly chugged half of the thai tea, finally calming down. Glancing up at Minho, he found the elder to be smirking.

"Oh, I guess there is a problem, since you choked."

" _Hyung_! You're not supposed to make fun of me!"

"If everyone else does it, why can't I?"

Jisung pouted, "Hmph!" He ate the last bite of cheesecake and then chugged the rest of the thai tea. "I'm leaving!"

Jisung left the bakery with a mock tantrum, letting the bell of the door vigorously jingle as he opened and closed the door. Behind the glass, he could hear Minho protest about his unfinished milk tea. Jisung turned, sticking out his tongue.

"Serves you right."

Minho was reading a book as Jisung came into the lounge to take a break from songwriting.

"Whatcha doin', _hyung_?"

"Reading."

"Well, no duh, but what are you reading?"

"Whatever it says on the cover."

Jisung puffed out his cheeks. "You're no fun. Are you taking a break from dancing?"

"Yeah. I wasn't getting ideas for the choreography, so I decided that I needed a break."

"What happened to Lix and Hyunjin?"

"I sent them back to the dorm. I already taught them the parts I have down already; I just need to figure out the bridge and the ending."

"Wait, why aren't you working with—"

Minho sighed. "Chan told me to do it, so I'm going to do it. Felix and Hyunjin already have a lot on their minds."

"But _hyung_ —"

Minho set his book down on the table gently. He stretched, raising his arms up. (Jisung couldn't help but notice a large scar at his stomach that strongly reminded him of Min.) "It's okay, Jisung. I can do it. I just needed a little break. I think I'm good, so I'll get going now."

"Alright. Oh, and _hyung_ , what happened to your stomach?"

"Oh, this scar?" Minho lifted his shirt a little, pointing to it. "Surgery when I was a child."

"Ah, I see."

"'Kay, Jisung, I'll see you at the dorm."

"Ah, wait, can I watch you?"

Minho blinked a few times, staring at Jisung for a moment as if he was bewildered. "Sure. Come along then."

With that, Jisung tailed behind Minho with a cheerful smile.

"Felix?"

Jisung looked out the door to find Minho looking anxious. " _Hyung_ , what's wrong?"

"I can't find Lix anywhere, and I haven't seen him all day. No one else has found him either, not even Changbin or Seungmin."

"What? How long—"

"For like six hours. At like ten, he told me that he was gonna explore the city while he had the chance to, but—"

Jisung didn't wait for Minho to finish his sentence, already running out of the studio. Minho shouted behind him, tailing him. They ignored every question thrown at them, making finding Felix the priority. Once outside, the two split up to find the Australian.

Jisung started with the bakery, asking Jieun if she had seen Felix. She replied, explaining that she last saw him running in the direction of the park. (He totally did not purchase a cake in the process.) Of course, that made the park his next stop. He searched behind every bush and tree, but even after a half hour of searching there, Felix was not to be found. Jisung then tried the café across the street, finding that Woojin hanging out with Chan, Changbin, and Jeongin. To avoid worrying them, Jisung didn't bother to go inside, leaving them be. That was when Minho gave him a call.

"Sungie, I found Lix . . . running for his life?"

"Say what?"

"Wait, Jisung, I gotta go. Go to that one old library near the supermarket."

As Minho ended the call, Jisung ran as fast as he could. He took three minutes to find Minho running after two colossal men. Jisung followed them to an alley, one with a dead end. In the back, Felix was cornered, in a fighting position.

"Little boy, give up some money, or else!" one of the men said.

Felix glared (though Jisung noticed his hands trembling slightly). "Why would you chase me for money?"

"JYP, foreigner, you clearly got some dough, brat," said the other.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Minho shouted, holding a pipe.

"Pretty boy, you can't do anything with that."

"Bet."

Chaos occurred the next moment. Minho swung the pipe at one of the men as Felix kicked the other in the stomach. Neither attack was successful, however, as they were both blocked by the men's large arms. They grabbed Felix by the leg, dragging him on the floor. (He would've been badly scraped if he wasn't wearing a thick hoodie and jeans.) Minho was punched in the gut, the impact knocking the dancer into the wall. Jisung had no idea what to do; he was small and not at all as adept in martial arts as Felix or as fit as Minho. Keeping his distance, he picked up a large stone, throwing it at one of the men's face. It hit its target, but it made little damage, a small wound on the side of the man's forehead. The man sent a glare, one that sent shivers down Jisung's spine and to his legs, making him tremble. The man strode on over until Minho, who had picked up the pipe again, swung at his ankle, knocking the man down.

"You're not going anywhere near him!"

Jisung took that chance to snap out of his terror and pick up another stone, throwing it at the other man's head. The man leaned backward, narrowly avoiding the stone. He looked just as furious as the previous, and he dropped Felix's leg. As Felix stayed on the ground to catch his breath, the man stalked over to Jisung. The other man kept Minho down, almost crushing the dancer under his foot. As fear returned to him, Jisung began to slowly back up, not wanting to leave the Lees behind but also not wanting to get hurt. Something in black flew past Jisung, tackling the large man. Jisung barely gasped out Changbin's name when Woojin swung an umbrella at the man's shoulder. Chan sprinted, tackling the other man with enough momentum to knock him off of Minho. Jeongin slipped in to help Felix up to his feet.

"We gotta go, now!"

Chan pulled Minho up, and all of them began to run as fast as they could back to JYP Entertainment (with Chan and Woojin helping Minho, and Jisung and Jeongin helping Felix).

(Felix couldn't run home on his own before because he was still unfamiliar with the area. Once they got back, he graciously thanked everyone for getting him out of there in one piece, smiling gently and serenely, reminding Jisung of Yong's cheerful meows.)

Jisung and Minho were shooting their episode for "Two Kids Room." They had had a long and casual conversation, which somehow led to the topic of acting cute.

"Come here, you're the one who told me to do this," Jisung said, poking both of his cheeks.

Minho glanced away, but Jisung was adamant about forcing Minho to reap what he sowed. Jisung held Minho's hands, pulling him closer.

"You told me to do it, okay?"

"I might hit you, so I'll sit on my hands."

"I'd prefer it if you crossed your legs too. You might kick me."

As Minho adjusted his position, Jisung covered all "potential threats" with the cyan pillows of the couch. When he was satisfied, Jisung began to act cute.

"One plus one is— _hyung_ , don't close your eyes!"

Minho opened his eyes, barely containing his smile. As Jisung continued his cute act, his face getting closer and closer, Minho made an attempt to avert his eyes again, only for Jisung to scold him again, saying that they had to make eye contact. The younger held the elder's face, forcing eye contact. However, Jisung had pulled Minho too close, their lips touching ever so slightly. Both pulled back from shock as Jisung squeaked out an "Oh!"

"I-is the camera still rolling?" Minho asked.

"Whatever happened, we'll cut it out," said the cameraman. "Just continue."

"I'm quitting this school." Minho stood up, taking a few pillows with him.

"Oi, student!" said Jisung, playing along.

Minho threw the pillows, smiling slightly. "This school is trash!"

"Aw, _hyung_!"

The cameraman called cut as Minho left the room. Jisung sat up, bowing and thanking the staff. He walked out as well, leaving the staff to clean up their equipment.

His fingers went up to his lip, still feeling a bit of Minho's lips. Memories of Min returned, and Jisung smiled.

_We met again, didn't we?_

**Author's Note:**

> I don't write very often, so I'm very inexperienced, haha. This is the first time I'm using Archive of Our Own, so I'm not sure how this stuff works much. I hope you enjoyed the story, though! And hopefully I'll write more in the future!
> 
> (This story was originally posted on Wattpad, but I deleted it and transferred it here July 2020, lol.)


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